Alteration of graphene defects

ABSTRACT

Technologies are generally described for method and systems effective to at least partially alter a defect in a layer including graphene. In some examples, the methods may include receiving the layer on a substrate where the layer includes at least some graphene and at least some defect areas in the graphene. The defect areas may reveal exposed areas of the substrate. The methods may also include reacting the substrate under sufficient reaction conditions to produce at least one cationic area in at least one of the exposed areas. The methods may further include adhering graphene oxide to the at least one cationic area to produce a graphene oxide layer. The methods may further include reducing the graphene oxide layer to produce at least one altered defect area in the layer.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to the following listedapplication(s): PCT Patent Application No. PCT/US2011/xxxxx (AttorneyDocket Number 1574-0040), entitled “GRAPHENE DEFECT ALTERATION”, namingSeth Miller as inventor, filed DATE, MONTH, YEAR, which is currentlyco-pending; and PCT/US2011/xxxxx (Attorney Docket Number 1574-0041),entitled “GRAPHENE DEFECT DETECTION”, naming Seth Miller as inventor,filed DATE, MONTH, YEAR, which is currently co-pending.

BACKGROUND

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in thissection are not prior art to the claims in this application and are notadmitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

Graphene is a material that generally may include a one atom thick layerof bonded carbon atoms. Graphene may be formed by growing carbon atomson top of another material such as copper. The copper may be insertedinto a quartz tube, heated, and annealed. A gas mixture of CH₄ and H₂may then be flowed into the tube and the copper may then be cooled withflowing H₂ to form graphene.

SUMMARY

In some examples, a method for at least partially altering a defect areain a layer on a substrate, where the layer includes graphene ,isgenerally described. Some methods may include receiving the layer, onthe substrate, where the layer may include at least some defect areas inthe graphene. The defect areas may reveal exposed areas of thesubstrate. The methods may also include reacting the substrate undersufficient reaction conditions effective to produce at least onecationic area in at least one of the exposed areas. The methods mayfurther include adhering graphene oxide to the at least one cationicarea to produce a graphene oxide layer. The methods may further includereducing the graphene oxide layer to produce at least one altered defectarea in the layer.

In some examples, a system effective to at least partially alter adefect area in a layer on a substrate, where the layer includesgraphene, is generally described. In various examples, the system mayinclude a chamber and a container configured in communication with thechamber. The chamber may be configured effective to receive a layer on asubstrate, where the layer may include at least some graphene, and mayinclude at least some defect areas in the graphene. The defect areas maybe effective to reveal exposed areas of the substrate. The chamber andthe container may be configured effective to react the substrate undersufficient reaction conditions to produce at least one cationic area inat least one of the exposed areas. The chamber and the container may beconfigured effective to adhere graphene oxide to the at least onecationic area to produce a graphene oxide layer. The chamber and thecontainer may further be configured effective to reduce the grapheneoxide layer to produce at least one altered defect area in the layer.

In some examples, a processed layer is generally described. The layermay include at least some graphene on a substrate. The layer may includeat least one defect area in the graphene. The defect area may beeffective to reveal a cationic area of the substrate. The layer mayfurther include a reduced graphene oxide layer adhered to the cationicarea.

The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be inany way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments,and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and featureswill become apparent by reference to the drawings and the followingdetailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The foregoing and other features of this disclosure will become morefully apparent from the following description and appended claims, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Understanding that thesedrawings depict only several embodiments in accordance with thedisclosure and are, therefore, not to be considered limiting of itsscope, the disclosure will be described with additional specificity anddetail through use of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system that can be utilized to implementgraphene defect alteration;

FIG. 2 depicts a flow diagram for an example process for implementinggraphene defect alteration;

FIG. 3 illustrates a computer program product that can be utilized toimplement graphene defect alteration; and

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example computing device thatis arranged to implement graphene defect alteration;

all arranged according to at least some embodiments described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings,similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless contextdictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in thedetailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting.Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made,without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matterpresented herein. It will be readily understood that the aspects of thepresent disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated inthe Figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, anddesigned in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which areexplicitly contemplated herein.

This disclosure is generally drawn, inter alia, to systems, methods,materials and apparatus related to graphene defect alteration.

Briefly stated, technologies are generally described for method andsystems effective to at least partially alter a defect in a layerincluding graphene. In some examples, the methods may include receivingthe layer on a substrate where the layer includes at least some grapheneand at least some defect areas in the graphene. The defect areas mayreveal exposed areas of the substrate. The methods may also includereacting the substrate under sufficient reaction conditions to produceat least one cationic area in at least one of the exposed areas. Themethods may further include adhering graphene oxide to the at least onecationic area to produce a graphene oxide layer. The methods may furtherinclude reducing the graphene oxide layer to produce at least onealtered defect area in the layer.

It will also be understood that any compound, material or substancewhich is expressly or implicitly disclosed in the specification and/orrecited in a claim as belonging to a group or structurally,compositionally and/or functionally related compounds, materials orsubstances, includes individual representatives of the group and allcombinations thereof.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system that can be utilized to implementgraphene defect alteration in accordance with at least some embodimentsdescribed herein. An example graphene defect alteration system 100 mayinclude one or more chambers 112, 113, 115, one or more containers 118,128, 162, one or more heaters 174, 175, 177, one or more valves 148,158, 168, 182, 189, 198 and/or one or more pumps 170, 171, 172. At leastsome of the elements of defect alteration system 100 may be arranged incommunication with a processor 184 through a communication link 186. Insome examples, processor 184 may be adapted in communication with amemory 188 that may include instructions 180 stored therein. Processor184 may be configured, such as by instructions 180, to control at leastsome of the operations/actions/functions described below.

During a graphene formation process, cracks, voids, tears or otherdefects or defect areas may form in graphene 106. Such defects mayresult from impurities in the graphene formation process and/or intransferring the graphene to a substrate. These defects may degrade anoperation of the graphene in some applications. For example, anelectrical conductivity of the graphene may be decreased due to thepresence of the defects as electrons may move around a defect. This mayincrease resistance and produce local magnetic fields. An increase ininductance may also occur. In examples where graphene is used as aconducting trace (such as in a display or high frequency circuit) anopen, non-functioning, circuit may result. Gas permeability may beaffected. Mechanical strength may be impacted, as a void may be a stressconcentrator. The chemical reactivity of the graphene may be increasedby the presence of a defect. In an example, as shown at 136, a layer 102including graphene 106 on substrate 104 may include defects 108 and/or110 revealing exposed areas 109, 111 of substrate 104. In an example,substrate 104 may include an electrical insulator. In an example,substrate 104 may be made of, for example, plastic, silicon, SiO₂,glass, gold, silver, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) etc. As discussedin more detail below, layer 102 and substrate 104 may be exposed to amaterial effective to produce a cationic area in exposed areas ofsubstrate 104. Graphene oxide may then be applied to the cationic areasand then the graphene oxide may be reduced to at least partially alterdefect areas in layer 102.

As shown at 138, layer 102 and substrate 104 may be placed, such as byhand or machine, in a chamber 112. Chamber 112 may include ports 114,116 and chamber 112 may be in communication with pump 170, heater 174and/or container 118. Container 118, along with pump 170, may beconfigured, such as by control of processor 184, effective to apply agas 120 or a liquid 121 to substrate 104, graphene 106 and/or exposedareas 109, 111. Gas 120 or liquid 121 may include a material effectiveto produce cationic areas 176, 178 at exposed areas 109, 111 revealeddue to the presence of defect areas 108, 110. For example gas 120 orliquid 121 may include an amine terminated material or an amineterminated siloxane such as aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTS) orpolyethylenimine (PEI). In an example, APTS may bond with silanols insubstrate 104 producing an amine functionality on substrate 102 inexposed areas 109, 111 thereby producing cationic areas 176, 178.

In an example, gas 120 or liquid 121 may be applied to layer 102 andsubstrate 104 while heater 174 heats layer 102 and substrate 104 to atemperature in a range of about 25 degrees Celsius to about 40 degreesCelsius at about 1 atmosphere for a time interval of about 1 minute toabout 2 minutes. In an example where substrate 104 includes plastic, adischarge electrode 144 may be in operative relationship with chamber112 and may be configured effective to produce a corona discharge onsubstrate 104 oxidizing substrate 104 at exposed areas 109, 111. Forexample, the corona discharge may be implemented prior to a transfer ofgraphene from a location where the graphene was formed to a locationwhere the graphene may be used. In this example, carboxylic acidfunctionalities may be created. Liquid 121 may include a polymer that iscationic, such as PEI, that may bond to the carboxyl acidfunctionalities to produce cationic areas 176, 178.

As shown at 140, substrate 104, with graphene 106, defect areas 108,110, and cationic areas 176, 178, may be placed, such as by hand ormachine, in chamber 113. A container 128 may be in communication withchamber 113. Container 128 may be configured, such as under control by acontroller such as processor 184 effective to apply a liquid 160 tosubstrate 104 with cationic areas 176, 178. For example, substrate 104may be submersed in liquid 160. Liquid 160 may include graphene oxide(GO) such as a solution including water and GO. Liquid or graphene oxidesolution 160 may be anionic so that flakes of graphene oxide may adhereto cationic areas 176, 178 in an anionic dispersion producing a grapheneoxide layer 190 and a graphene oxide layer 192. For example, the anionicgraphene oxide flakes may adhere to the cationic APTS and/or PEI.

In an example, liquid 160 may be applied to substrate 104 while heater175 heats substrate 104 to a temperature in a range of about 15 degreesCelsius to about 25 degrees Celsius for a time interval of about 1minute to about 2 minutes. Pump 171 may be configured, such as undercontrol by a controller such as processor 184, effective to generate orcontrol pressure in chamber 112 to be from about 0.5 to about 2atmospheres in chamber 113. Graphene oxide that does not adhere tocationic areas 176, 178 may be washed away such as by flowing liquid160, including water, across layer 102 in chamber 113.

As shown at 142, layer 102 with graphene oxide layers 190, 192 may beplaced, such as by hand or machine, in chamber 115. A container 162 maybe in communication with chamber 115 and may include a liquid 164 and/orgas 161. Chamber 115 may be effective to reduce graphene oxide ingraphene oxide layers 190, 192 by applying liquid 164 and/or gas 161 tographene oxide layers 190, 192 to produce altered defect or reducedgraphene oxide areas 194, 196. For example, container 162 may include aliquid 164 or gas 161 including a hydrazine solution. In an example,liquid 164 may include about 0.5% to 5% hydrazine by weight. In anexample, container 162 may include a liquid 164 or gas 161 includingsodium borohydride and water. A pressure, reaction time and temperaturein chamber 115 may be adjusted to at least partially reduce grapheneoxide in graphene oxide layers 190, 192 to produce altered defect orreduced graphene oxide areas 194, 196. In an example, heater 177 may beconfigured, such as under control by a controller such as processor 184,effective to heat layer 102 and substrate 104 to a temperature in arange of from about 50 degrees Celsius to about 300 degrees Celsius fora time interval of from about 2 hours to about 4 hours. In the example,pump 172 may be configured effective to generate or control a pressurein chamber 115 of about 3 atmospheres to about 5 atmospheres.

Among other potential benefits, a system arranged in accordance with thepresent disclosure may be used to at least partially alter defect areasin a layer including graphene. Defects may be altered even aftergraphene has been transferred from a location from where the graphenewas grown. Graphene may be used in applications that may be sensitive tovoids or cracks such as technologies that use graphene for lithographyas may occur in displays, microelectronic circuits, electronicinterconnects, and/or optical applications.

FIG. 2 depicts a flow diagram for an example process 200 forimplementing graphene defect alteration arranged in accordance with atleast some embodiments described herein. The process in FIG. 2 could beimplemented using, for example, system 100 discussed above, whereprocessor 184 may be adapted, via instructions, to control andfacilitate the various processing operations through interfaces as willbe further described with respect to FIG. 4. An example process mayinclude one or more operations, actions, or functions as illustrated byone or more of blocks S2, S4, S6 and/or S8. Although illustrated asdiscrete blocks, various blocks may be divided into additional blocks,combined into fewer blocks, or eliminated, depending on the desiredimplementation.

Process 200 may begin at block S2, “Receive a layer on a substrate,where the layer includes at least some defect areas in graphene, thedefect areas revealing exposed areas of the substrate” At block S2, achamber may be configured effective to receive a layer on a substrate.The layer may include at least some defect areas in graphene. The defectareas may reveal exposed areas of the substrate.

Processing may continue from block S2 to block S4, “React the substrateunder sufficient reaction conditions to produce at least one cationicarea in at least one of the exposed areas.” At block S4, the chamberalong with valves and a container including a gas or liquid may beconfigured, such as under control by a controller such as processor 184,effective to react the substrate to produce at least one cationic areain at least one of the exposed areas. For example, a gas or liquidincluding an amine terminated material such as APTS or PEI may beapplied from the container through the valve to the layer and substratein the chamber.

Processing may continue from block S4 to block S6, “Adhere grapheneoxide to the at least one cationic area to produce a graphene oxidelayer.” At block S6, the chamber along with valves and a containerincluding a gas or liquid may be configured such as under control by acontroller such as processor 184, effective to adhere graphene oxide tothe at least one cationic area to produce a graphene oxide layer. Forexample, a container in fluid communication with the chamber may beconfigured, such as under control by a controller such as processor 184,effective to apply a gas or liquid including graphene oxide to the layerand substrate. The graphene oxide may adhere to the cationic areas.

Processing may continue from block S6 to block S8, “Reduce the grapheneoxide layer to produce at least one altered defect area in the layer.”At block S8, the chamber along with valves and a container including agas or a liquid may be configured such as under control by a controllersuch as processor 184, effective to reduce the graphene oxide layer. Forexample, a container in fluid communication with the chamber may beconfigured such as under control by a controller such as a processor,effective to apply a liquid or gas including a hydrazine solution to thegraphene oxide layer. For example, a container in fluid communicationwith the chamber may be configured such as under control by a controllersuch as a processor, effective to apply a liquid or gas including asodium borohydride and water solution to the graphene oxide layer.

FIG. 3 illustrates a computer program product that can be utilized toimplement graphene defect alteration in accordance with at least someembodiments described herein. Program product 300 may include a signalbearing medium 302. Signal bearing medium 302 may include one or moreinstructions 304 that, when executed by, for example, a processor, mayprovide the functionality described above with respect to FIGS. 1-2.Thus, for example, referring to system 100, processor 184 may undertakeone or more of the blocks shown in FIG. 3 in response to instructions304 conveyed to the system 100 by medium 302.

In some implementations, signal bearing medium 302 may encompass acomputer-readable medium 306, such as, but not limited to, a hard diskdrive, a Compact Disc (CD), a Digital Video Disk (DVD), a digital tape,memory, etc. In some implementations, signal bearing medium 302 mayencompass a recordable medium 308, such as, but not limited to, memory,read/write (R/W) CDs, R/W DVDs, etc. In some implementations, signalbearing medium 302 may encompass a communications medium 310, such as,but not limited to, a digital and/or an analog communication medium(e.g., a fiber optic cable, a waveguide, a wired communications link, awireless communication link, etc.). Thus, for example, program product300 may be conveyed to one or more modules of the system 100 by an RFsignal bearing medium 302, where the signal bearing medium 302 isconveyed by a wireless communications medium 310 (e.g., a wirelesscommunications medium conforming with the IEEE 802.11 standard).

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example computing device thatis arranged to implement graphene defect alteration according to atleast some embodiments described herein. In a very basic configuration402, computing device 400 typically includes one or more processors 404and a system memory 406. A memory bus 408 may be used for communicatingbetween processor 404 and system memory 406.

Depending on the desired configuration, processor 404 may be of any typeincluding but not limited to a microprocessor (μP), a microcontroller(μC), a digital signal processor (DSP), or any combination thereof.Processor 404 may include one more levels of caching, such as a levelone cache 410 and a level two cache 412, a processor core 414, andregisters 416. An example processor core 414 may include an arithmeticlogic unit (ALU), a floating point unit (FPU), a digital signalprocessing core (DSP Core), or any combination thereof. An examplememory controller 418 may also be used with processor 404, or in someimplementations memory controller 418 may be an internal part ofprocessor 404.

Depending on the desired configuration, system memory 406 may be of anytype including but not limited to volatile memory (such as RAM),non-volatile memory (such as ROM, flash memory, etc.) or any combinationthereof. System memory 406 may include an operating system 420, one ormore applications 422, and program data 424. Application 422 may includea graphene defect alteration algorithm 426 that is arranged to performthe various functions/actions/operations as described herein includingat least those described with respect to system 100 of FIGS. 1-3.Program data 424 may include graphene defect alteration data 428 thatmay be useful for implementing graphene defect alteration as isdescribed herein. In some embodiments, application 422 may be arrangedto operate with program data 424 on operating system 420 such thatgraphene defect processing may be provided. This described basicconfiguration 402 is illustrated in FIG. 4 by those components withinthe inner dashed line.

Computing device 400 may have additional features or functionality, andadditional interfaces to facilitate communications between basicconfiguration 402 and any required devices and interfaces. For example,a bus/interface controller 430 may be used to facilitate communicationsbetween basic configuration 402 and one or more data storage devices 432via a storage interface bus 434. Data storage devices 432 may beremovable storage devices 436, non-removable storage devices 438, or acombination thereof. Examples of removable storage and non-removablestorage devices include magnetic disk devices such as flexible diskdrives and hard-disk drives (HDD), optical disk drives such as compactdisk (CD) drives or digital versatile disk (DVD) drives, solid statedrives (SSD), and tape drives to name a few. Example computer storagemedia may include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removablemedia implemented in any method or technology for storage ofinformation, such as computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules, or other data.

System memory 406, removable storage devices 436 and non-removablestorage devices 438 are examples of computer storage media. Computerstorage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flashmemory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD)or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other mediumwhich may be used to store the desired information and which may beaccessed by computing device 400. Any such computer storage media may bepart of computing device 400.

Computing device 400 may also include an interface bus 440 forfacilitating communication from various interface devices (e.g., outputdevices 442, peripheral interfaces 444, and communication devices 446)to basic configuration 402 via bus/interface controller 430. Exampleoutput devices 442 include a graphics processing unit 448 and an audioprocessing unit 450, which may be configured to communicate to variousexternal devices such as a display or speakers via one or more AN ports452. Example peripheral interfaces 444 include a serial interfacecontroller 454 or a parallel interface controller 456, which may beconfigured to communicate with external devices such as input devices(e.g., keyboard, mouse, pen, voice input device, touch input device,etc.) or other peripheral devices (e.g., printer, scanner, etc.) via oneor more I/O ports 458. An example communication device 446 includes anetwork controller 460, which may be arranged to facilitatecommunications with one or more other computing devices 462 over anetwork communication link via one or more communication ports 464.

The network communication link may be one example of a communicationmedia. Communication media may typically be embodied by computerreadable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other datain a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transportmechanism, and may include any information delivery media. A “modulateddata signal” may be a signal that has one or more of its characteristicsset or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal.By way of example, and not limitation, communication media may includewired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, andwireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF), microwave,infrared (IR) and other wireless media. The term computer readable mediaas used herein may include both storage media and communication media.

Computing device 400 may be implemented as a portion of a small-formfactor portable (or mobile) electronic device such as a cell phone, apersonal data assistant (PDA), a personal media player device, awireless web-watch device, a personal headset device, an applicationspecific device, or a hybrid device that include any of the abovefunctions. Computing device 400 may also be implemented as a personalcomputer including both laptop computer and non-laptop computerconfigurations.

The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particularembodiments described in this application, which are intended asillustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations canbe made without departing from its spirit and scope, as will be apparentto those skilled in the art. Functionally equivalent methods andapparatuses within the scope of the disclosure, in addition to thoseenumerated herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from theforegoing descriptions. Such modifications and variations are intendedto fall within the scope of the appended claims. The present disclosureis to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims, along withthe full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It isto be understood that this disclosure is not limited to particularmethods, reagents, compounds compositions or biological systems, whichcan, of course, vary. It is also to be understood that the terminologyused herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodimentsonly, and is not intended to be limiting.

With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singularterms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from theplural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as isappropriate to the context and/or application. The varioussingular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sakeof clarity.

It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, termsused herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of theappended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term“including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” theterm “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term“includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,”etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if aspecific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such anintent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence ofsuch recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid tounderstanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of theintroductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claimrecitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed toimply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinitearticles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing suchintroduced claim recitation to embodiments containing only one suchrecitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases“one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or“an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “at least one”or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articlesused to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specificnumber of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, thoseskilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should beinterpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the barerecitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, means at leasttwo recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in thoseinstances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C,etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the senseone having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “asystem having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not belimited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and Btogether, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and Ctogether, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to “atleast one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a constructionis intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understandthe convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” wouldinclude but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, Calone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A,B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those withinthe art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting twoor more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, ordrawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities ofincluding one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. Forexample, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include thepossibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

In addition, where features or aspects of the disclosure are describedin terms of Markush groups, those skilled in the art will recognize thatthe disclosure is also thereby described in terms of any individualmember or subgroup of members of the Markush group.

As will be understood by one skilled in the art, for any and allpurposes, such as in terms of providing a written description, allranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible subrangesand combinations of subranges thereof. Any listed range can be easilyrecognized as sufficiently describing and enabling the same range beingbroken down into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths,tenths, etc. As a non-limiting example, each range discussed herein canbe readily broken down into a lower third, middle third and upper third,etc. As will also be understood by one skilled in the art all languagesuch as “up to,” “at least,” “greater than,” “less than,” and the likeinclude the number recited and refer to ranges which can be subsequentlybroken down into subranges as discussed above. Finally, as will beunderstood by one skilled in the art, a range includes each individualmember. Thus, for example, a group having 1-3 cells refers to groupshaving 1, 2, or 3 cells. Similarly, a group having 1-5 cells refers togroups having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 cells, and so forth.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, otheraspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art.The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes ofillustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scopeand spirit being indicated by the following claims.

1-10. (canceled)
 11. A system effective to at least partially alter adefect area in a layer on a substrate, wherein the layer includesgraphene, the system comprising: a chamber configured effective toreceive a layer on the substrate placed in the chamber, wherein thelayer includes at least some graphene, and at least some defect areas inthe graphene, wherein the defect areas are effective to reveal exposedareas of the substrate; and a container configured in communication withthe chamber; wherein the chamber and the container are configuredeffective to react the substrate under sufficient reaction conditions toproduce at least one cationic area in at least one of the exposed areas;adhere graphene oxide to the at least one cationic area to produce agraphene oxide layer; and reduce the graphene oxide layer to produce atleast one altered defect area in the layer.
 12. The system as recited inclaim 11, wherein the substrate includes at least one of plastic, SiO₂,glass, gold, silver, and/or polyethylene terephthalate.
 13. The systemas recited in claim 11, wherein the substrate includes silicon and thechamber and the container are further configured to applyaminopropyltriethoxysilane to the substrate such that the substratereacts under sufficient reaction conditions to produce the at least onecationic area in the at least one of the exposed areas.
 14. The systemas recited in claim 11, wherein the chamber and the container arefurther configured to apply an amine terminated material to thesubstrate such that the substrate reacts under sufficient reactionconditions to produce the at least one cationic area in the at least oneof the exposed areas.
 15. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein thechamber and the container are further configured to apply an amineterminated siloxane to the substrate such that the substrate reactsunder sufficient reaction conditions to produce the at least onecationic area in the at least one of the exposed areas.
 16. The systemas recited in claim 11, wherein the chamber and the container arefurther configured to apply polyethylenimine to the substrate such thatthe substrate reacts under sufficient reaction conditions to produce theat least one cationic area in the at least one of the exposed areas. 17.The system as recited in claim 11, further comprising: an electrodeconfigured in operative relationship with the chamber, wherein theelectrode is effective to produce a corona discharge, the coronadischarge being effective to produce carboxylic acid functionalities onthe substrate; and wherein the chamber and the container are furtherconfigured to apply polyethylenimine to the carboxylic acidfunctionalities such that the substrate reacts under sufficient reactionconditions to produce the at least one cationic area in the at least oneof the exposed areas.
 18. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein thechamber and the container are further configured to apply a solution ofgraphene oxide and water to the substrate such that the substrate reactsunder sufficient reaction conditions to adhere graphene oxide to the atleast one cationic area to produce a graphene oxide layer.
 19. Thesystem as recited in claim 11, wherein the chamber and the container arefurther configured to apply a solution including hydrazine to thegraphene oxide layer such that the substrate reacts under sufficientreaction conditions to reduce the graphene oxide layer.
 20. The systemas recited in claim 11, wherein the chamber and the container areconfigured to apply a solution including sodium borohydride to thegraphene oxide layer such that the substrate reacts under sufficientreaction conditions to reduce the graphene oxide layer.
 21. A processedlayer comprising: at least some graphene on a substrate; at least onedefect area in the graphene, the defect area being effective to reveal acationic area of the substrate; and a reduced graphene oxide layeradhered to the cationic area.
 22. The layer as recited in claim 21,wherein the substrate includes at least one of plastic, SiO₂, glass,gold, silver, and/or polyethylene terephthalate.